Sanford works out of mansion amid calls from some legislators to step down

COLUMBIA — Gov. Mark Sanford went silent and worked out of the governor’s mansion for much of Wednesday despite calls from some of his party’s top leaders to step down.
The governor also backed out of a promise to release personal financial records that may have proven he did not use state money for trips to see his mistress. Sanford has originally promised the AP he would provide copies of the documents to show that he did not use taxpayer dollars to see his mistress.
In his stirring interview with the AP on Tuesday, Sanford admitted his mistress, Maria Belen Chapur, was the love of his life and he would die knowing that she was his soul mate.
“This was a whole lot more than a simple affair,” Sanford told the AP. “That it’s a love story, a forbidden one, a tragic one but a love story at the end of the day.”
More than half of the state’s 27 Republican senators have publicly called on the governor to resign from office. Sen. Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, and the powerful president pro tempore of the senate, said that Sanford had lost the support of the people and had become an embarrassment for the state.
“I would beseech the governor to do the right thing for himself, his family and our state,” McConnell said in a statement. “I believe he knows what the right thing to do is and I hope he will do what is right.“
As his continued to lose his party’s support Wednesday, he remained elusive and out of the public limelight, working for most of the day out of the official residence here.
Several lawmakers who have spoken with the governor said he was meeting with close friends and advisers on his political future.
Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer issued a statement saying the governor was ready to move forward with running the state.
“The governor has given a full and truthful account and he is finished discussing the matter,” Sawyer said in a statement. “He is focused on being governor, on rebuilding his marriage and on building back the trust of South Carolinians.”
S.C. GOP chairwoman Karen Floyd has been speaking with fellow party leaders across the state this week and suggested the time had come for Sanford to go.
“There is clearly a growing view that the time may have come for Gov. Sanford to remove himself and his family from the limelight, so that he can devote his efforts full-time to repairing the damage in his personal life,” Floyd said in a statement.
But several senators say they are waiting until the results of the State Law Enforcement Division’s inquiry into the governor’s travel expenses is finished before they make a decision.
“The attorney general has requested a report, an audit from SLED on his travels, other documentation,” Sen. John Courson, R-Richland, said. “I’d very much like to see those papers.”
But after hearing yesterday’s latest revelations, Sen. Joel Lourie, D-Richland, said he had lost confidence in the governor’s ability to lead.
“I just don’t see his state of mind being that which would allow him to really focus on governing South Carolina,” Lourie said.